The head of the armed wing of Hamas died, only eleven days after the assassination of his predecessor. Israel announced this Wednesday, May 27, that it had killed Mohammed Odeh the day before in a strike in Gaza, carried out despite the ceasefire.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades confirmed in the evening the death of their « chef d’état-major ». Mohammed Odeh a été tué « during a murder operation » leading to death “of his wife and children, and made a certain number [d'autres] morts et blessés civils »indicates a press release from the Brigades.
The army and the Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security agency, had announced earlier that what Israel presents as “one of the leading architects†of the attack of October 7, 2023 which triggered the Gaza war had been killed the day before in a strike on the north of the Palestinian territory.
In a statement mourning his death, Hamas confirmed that this senior officer had participated in the conception and planning of this attack which resulted in the death of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count. In Gaza City, hundreds of men and teenagers brandishing green Hamas flags and the portrait of the deceased took part in his funeral, according to AFP journalists.
This post « est devenu la fonction la plus éphémère à Gaza »
Israel, who has it « délibérément assassiné »thus sought to destroy “The joy of the holiday for Muslims and Palestinians”declared Ahmad Abou Odeh, one of his cousins, as Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha, one of the most important Islamic holidays.
Mohammed Odeh has long headed the intelligence services of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. His appointment as head of the armed wing of Hamas to succeed Ezzedine al-Haddad, killed on May 15 in an Israeli strike, was only officially confirmed with the announcement of his death.
Until Tuesday evening, he was one of the main military leaders of Hamas still alive after the death of Mohammed Deif, leader of the Brigades, killed in an Israeli strike in July 2024, then that of his successor and supreme leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinouar, killed in October 2024 by gunfire. Israeli soldiers, and whom Ezzedine al-Haddad succeeded as military leader.
“The position of commander of Hamas’s armed wing has become the most ephemeral position in Gaza.”Lieutenant-Colonel Ella Waweya, Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, joked about X: “The question is not ‘who will be next?’, but ‘how long will he have left?'”
“Committing to eliminate all those who led the October 7 massacre”
“We are committed to eliminating all those who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do.”said Defense Minister Israel Katz on X. The minister added that Israel was determined to end Hamas’ rule in Gaza. On Wednesday evening, the Israeli army said it had “hit two senior Hamas terrorists in northern Gaza Stripâ€.
According to the Gaza Civil Defense, a first aid organization operating under the authority of Hamas, ten people were killed and several others injured in this strike which targeted a residential building in the center of Gaza city. Five children are among these deaths, said a medical source.
More than 72,800 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military retaliation on October 7 in the Gaza Strip, including more than 900 since the October 2025 ceasefire, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, under the authority of Hamas and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other on a daily basis of violating the truce, which came into force under pressure from the United States after a little more than two years of a war that devastated the small coastal territory. Since then, the Israeli army has controlled more than half, the rest remaining under the rule of Hamas, which took power in 2007.
